Not satisfied with destroying crops, the drought is now ruining quaint local traditions

If flowers are supposed to make a room more cheery, I think we’re doing something wrong.

Prepare yourself for the sort of sad, super-local news that makes the fact that the world is ending such a bummer. A flower show in Butte County, S.D., sucked this year because there wasn’t enough water to grow any really good flowers. We all know climate change is ruining the Earth in general, but ruining small-town flower shows just seems mean.

The only flowers that did well were sunflowers, zinnias, daisies, and marigolds — flowers which generally don’t need a lot of water.

“It was really hard to keep things watered,” participant Tracey Seieroe told the Rapid City Journal. “Even when you did keep it watered they didn’t last long.” She said her flowers bloomed quickly and died the same way, and that their last words were “fuck you, Charles Koch.”

Much of South Dakota is rated Moderate Drought (D1) to Severe Drought (D2) because of dry conditions this year and last fall. No improvement in these conditions is predicted for the near future. So if you want to court the fame and glory of winning local flower shows, this is a good time to move to Butte County and open that ornamental cactus farm.